In November the price of the weekday Daily Telegraph was increased by 20%, or 20p, to £1.20. The Saturday edition of the paper was increased by 10p to £2.

"The group delivered a solid performance despite the challenging economic climate, particularly in the second half of the year," the company said. "[The] improved revenue performance was offset by increased costs, especially substantially higher newsprint prices."

Earlier this month Trinity Mirror, owner of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People, revealed a 40% fall in pre-tax profits to £74m for 2011.

The Trinity Mirror chief executive, Sly Bailey, said the publisher, which also owns more than 100 regional newspapers, had to cope with a £22m increase in newsprint prices in 2011.

TMG said "continuing investment in digital development" also contributed to a decline in profits at an operating level.

Last year the company looked at launching a New York Times-style metered digital subscription paywall, although this plan has never developed into a firm strategy. Last week the US publisher halved the number of free articles web users can view per month before paying by 50% to 10.

The average number of daily online browsers climbed 2.14% month on month to 2,511,429.

The average number of editorial and production staff employed by TMG rose year on year from 619 to 627. Selling, distribution and administration staff also rose from 385 to 428.

Wages and salaries crept up by £2.2m, to £65.2m, with total staff costs including pension and social security climbing to £77.8m.

The highest-paid director at Telegraph Media Group received £800,000, including a £100,000 pension contribution.

According to the Companies House filing for Press Acquisitions Limited, the parent company of TMG, total loans at the newspaper publisher crept up from £210m to £215m year on year.

Interest payments also climbed marginally to £7.9m in 2011. TMG paid off a £25m loan due to May Corporation, Press Corporation's parent company, which is incorporated in Jersey and is ultimately controlled by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay.

When the various loan and interest payments are taken into account TMG reported an 8.6% decline in pre tax profits from £52.4m to £47.9m.

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